The Junkfood Trade
by jinkiez
Summary: After the town puts a ban on minors buying candy, Cartman becomes a junk food dealer, and a heartbroken Butters falls victim to his trap. But what seems like a harmless way of coping, soon turns into a hardcore addiction for poor Butters.
1. Heartbreak & Chocolate

"Butters! It's about damn time, I needed somebody to beat at this game." Cartman sneered as he opened the door. Butters stood there at the landing sadly, his head directed to the ground.

"Well come on buttwipe! Are you just going to stand there all day or what?" Cartman called from inside. He wouldn't dare go out in the rain and get wet.

Butters shook himself out of his thoughts and walked in gloomily, completely drenched from the walk to Cartman's house. The rain outside didn't spare his dark depressing soul any happiness. "What game are we playin' again?" he finally asked.

"Drag racing hero. I'm going to pick a super fast car, but you can choose a slow one because I wanna win each round this time." Cartman said, toggling through a list of Ferraris and Lambourghinis with his controller. _'Kinda defeats the purpose of the game..huh?'_ Butters thought._ 'Oh well. Life is a cruel game.'_

When his turn came, Butters selected a junky rally car, then let his mind wander as he steered it around a racetrack. He hated this feeling, being rejected. He had offered up his heart on a silver platter only to have it thrown back at him. Only he couldn't put it back in now, because the vessels had already been all ripped out and damaged. And he was surely no cardiac surgeon, just as I am no writer when it comes to detailed descriptions of heartbreak. So to put it short, he was officially heartbroken.

To make matters worse, the same scenario that had taken place last week just wouldn't stop replaying in his mind. It was like a broken record that wouldn't stop playing Katy Perry songs over and over. Maybe not quite as bad as that, but still awful.

_'Oh boy Butters..what have you gotten yourself into? She's gonna reject you..y-you shouldn't even waste your time.' he thought anxiously, slicking his hair back with a comb and gel. He looked in the mirror at his 'stupid ugly face' one last time, then finally decided to just be brave and go for it. 'M-Maybe girls like nice guys..maybe you'll have a chance.' he thought._

_He left the bathroom and walked out to the playground, scanning the area for the girl of his dreams. He found her hanging from the monkeybars across the playground. Instead of approaching her like he planned though, something caught hold of his mind and told him that it would instead be safer to run and hide. Run away while you have the chance. It's the only safe option! 'No, no..this is your chance. You have to tell her how you feel!' he thought, trying to bury the gut wrenching feeling brewing inside him._

_He finally walked up to the monkeybars, hands shoved deep inside his pockets to keep himself from wringing them together. His dream girl was still hanging upside down from the bar, her golden hair looking all shiny and glowy in the sun._

_"H-hey Sally!" he stuttered, waving at her._

_"Oh hey Butters!" she replied back enthusiastically. "We're playing monkey bandit pirates, you want to join in?"_

_"Uhh, I w-would love to, but, I-I was actually hoping I could t-talk to you, for uhh-a minute maybe?" he managed to spit out. All of a sudden, he felt real dizzy and nervous. This was going to be real hard._

_"Sure." she said, letting herself drop from the bars to the wooden chips on the ground. Her hair was so shiny. "What is it you wanted to talk about?" she said as she followed Butters to the other end of the playground. He wasted as much time as possible, fiddling around in every way he could before getting to the point._

_"W-well..y-you know, I was..I was just thinkin', and I thought, w-well maybe I should t-tell you that.." he began anxiously, unable to keep his hands still anymore. He wrung them together like magnets. "Tell me what?" she asked curiously._

_Butters swallowed a lump in his throat and looked down at the ground nervously. "That..t-that..well, I-I think you're awfully nice, and..well, I r-really like..you. So, w-will you be my girlfriend?" _

_He clenched his eyes together in fear of a slap or some other harsh form of rejection, but instead felt a warm kiss on his cheek. He opened his eyes and smiled brightly._

_"Butters, I really like you too." she smiled back, and at that moment he felt his heart speed up a million beats. "But..I don't think I like you that way. I'm sorry Butters." she said with a pitiful glance. "I hope we can still be friends, though."_

_Then, his heart seemed to stop beating altogether._

_"O-oh.." he sputtered out. "I-I hope we can stay f-f-riends too, then.." _

_She forced an awkward smile and ran back to the playground. Butters walked to the corner of the school and sat against the wall, alone. _

_When he looked back at Sally, she was sitting atop the jungle gym giggling with all her friends again. He'd offered her his heart, and she didn't even care._

Butters felt a hot tear escape his eye, and then they filled up with more. He sniffed, trying to prevent the snot from pouring out too.

His car crashed into a brick wall and exploded. He angrily threw his controller on the ground. "I can't do it!" he yelled.

"Dude, what the hell?" Cartman yelled, angry at Butter's car crashing debacle.

"I just can't do it anymore! I can't pretend to be happy all the time when I'm not! I'm sick of being everyone's little buddy, gosh darnit!" he sobbed, rubbing the tears and snot off on his sleeve.

"Butters, what is wrong with you this time? You're such a wuss." Cartman seethed. His racing game had already ended itself due to Butters crashing the car. "Thanks a lot, asshole. You just ruined it! I was getting to level 79!"

Butters, in his heartbroken hysteria, didn't even care what Eric was saying or mad about. "But I finally got the courage up to ask her, a-and she rejects me!" he let more tears fall out, unable to see anything clearly through his watery eyes. Cartman rolled his eyes. "Which girl was it?"

"T-This girl I liked. H-her name's Sally."

Cartman sighed, annoyed. If there was one thing he hated, it was hearing guys talk about their chick problems. He _really _didn't give a crap about girls; they could all go knit him a sweater for all he cared. He threw his controller down and heaved himself off the couch, panting as he wobbled into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with a bag of full of candy. He shoved a few pieces of chocolate into his mouth without second thought.

"Here, Butters." he nonchalantly offered the bag to his blubbering emotional friend, who was now sitting on the floor bawling desperately. "You know, you don't need girls to make you happy. _Food_ is a much better friend."

Butters sniffed and looked up at him. "T-that won't h-h-help me" he heaved, his breath choppy from crying.

"You'd be surprised." Cartman said with an innocent grin.

"W-well..I guess..I'll have just one." Butters reluctantly grabbed a piece of candy. He leaned his head against the couch, his sniffles dying down a bit. "Hey..these are p-pretty good."

Cartman smiled mischeviously. "Yep. You can have the rest of the bag, I'm sick of them anyway." he said, throwing the bag of sugar crack at Butters. "Oh..I can't eat a-all those..my parents said I a-aint allowed to *sniff* have that much c-candy."

"Oh? But they're delicious. And they'll _never_ betray you like a girl would. They only want to make you happy. Besides, your parents aren't around to know anyway, are they?"

"Well, no, but-"

"So eat them." Cartman picked up the bag and shoved it into Butters' hands. He sat down on the carpet, pushing himself a bit too close for comfort. His expression was both sinister and sweet; it was intimidating, nonetheless. He stared at Butters with a wide smile of anticipation, awaiting him to eat the candy.

"Go ahead. Eat it."

"Um..okay.." Butters began, eyeing him wearily. He picked up another piece and threw it into his mouth. The room was awkwardly silent, aside from the sounds of him chewing, and some few sniffles here and there. Cartman remained quiet, his smile tugging into a smirk. "There you gooo." he cooed, patting him on the back. Butters continued popping piece after piece of chocolate into his mouth, desperately until there was nothing left in the bag but empty wrappers. He had to admit, though he felt awfully piggish, it _did_ actually help him feel a whole lot better. His crying had stopped completely, and he'd _almost_ even forgotten about Sally in this sugar high feeling.

"Uh, thanks, Eric. I guess that really did help." he said kindly, rubbing his salt-dried eyes.

"Oh you're welcomeeee." Cartman replied pleasantly. "Now that'll be 10 dollars, please."

* * *

Butters couldn't believe it. He'd gotten suckered in to another of Cartman's schemes yet _again_. That boy just always had something up his sleeve, didn't he? Cartman never did anything out of kindness, just always to take the piss out of someone else. Or in this case, the money.

Still, Butters _did_ get a little something out of the deal himself, even if it did cost him half a month's worth of lunch cash. He got another giant bag of candy bars, to be precise.

His face curled into a bright smile as he pulled the bag out from under his sweater and dumped it onto his bed. Luckily they hadn't melted under there; no, it was too cold a night for that. His parents didn't even question the lumpy bulge hiding beneath his shirt when he came home.

He intended to keep this secret to himself. He'd keep his precious babies in a shoebox under his bed where nobody else would find them, and his parents couldn't yell at him for having candy. A whole bag of chocolate bars _all _to himself. Ahh..greed never tasted so sweet.

Maybe just another piece wouldn't hurt. He tore open the bag of marshmallow fudgies, reached inside, but was startled by the sound of his bedroom door swinging open at the same time. "Butters!" a harsh voice called. _Oh, biscuits!_

He frantically threw the bed covers over the bag of candy and turned around to greet his father. "Uh..hi Dad."

The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What are you doing?" he asked sternly.

"Nuh..nuthin, Dad. Just m-making my bed. Yeah..it was..messy."

"You'd better not have a messy bed, or else you're grounded! And you go brush your teeth this instant, or you'll be double grounded!" he glared viciously at Butters, then stormed off.

"Yes sir.." Butters replied.


	2. The Hard Stuff

That morning, Butters woke up five minutes later than usual with a massive headache. Heavy eyes, stuffy nose, and a mouth dry as wood with a disgusting aftertaste. He couldn't remember what had happened last night, because his mind and memory was a fuzzy mess. After stretching out, he felt something plastic beside his pillow, and grabbed it to see what it was. Horrified, he collected all the trash and threw it into a trashcan, covering it with more trash to make sure nobody would discover the candy wrappers. He was quite sure that the empty bag of chocolate marshmallow candies had been completely unopened last night.

Butters couldn't remember eating any of them at all. Confused, he pushed the thought into the back of his head, and went into the bathroom before his parents yelled at him. The bathroom mirror hit him with an awful sight. There were large bags under his eyes like that of a heroin addict, and what _almost_ looked like a pimple on his left cheek. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it _was _indeed a pimple. He'd never had a pimple before in his life. At nine years old, he was already getting his first pimple. What was the world coming to?

He frantically searched the bathroom cabinet and reached for his mother's makeup. If his parents saw him with sunken eyes and a..._zit_ on his face, he'd be in dead trouble.

* * *

Mrs. Stotch had been unusually nice that morning, and allowed Butters to have pancakes for breakfast. But he couldn't seem to get enough syrup on them, drowning them in the sweet sugar and corn syrup that tasted so so good. As soon as the sugar entered his system, he felt the hangover from earlier magically go away.

Linda Stotch watched with concern as her son licked every last bit of syrup from the plate like crazy. Something about him today seemed, different. No, it wasn't just his behavior. "Butters, what is that on your face?" she questioned.

In a panic, Butters hurriedly covered his hand over the pimple to hide it. "W-what do you mean, Mom?"

Linda raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but then went back to reading her morning newspaper. "Ah, nevermind."

* * *

That day at school, Butters felt that everyone was staring at him. _Especially_ at the large bump on his cheek. It seemed like all the girls would giggle behind his back, and the boys would laugh in his direction whenever he looked away. He felt like all eyes were on him, wondering how such a hideous creature could've come into existence - an ugly pizza face! The anxiety was building up, giving him a headache again.

When math class came, he couldn't concentrate. Math had always been Butters' best subject, but today the numbers and plus signs just looked like foreign characters. If only he had something sweet to clear his mind, he knew he'd be able to focus better and concentrate. His brain was telling him to eat more candy. No matter what it took, he would have to get that euphoric feeling back.

* * *

After running home that day from school, Butters stormed upstairs and into his room to search for his secret stash of money. It was the same money his grandparents had given him for his birthday, the stash he'd always kept hidden in a blue sock inside his drawer in case of an emergency. Right now certainly felt like an emergency.

He rummaged through the drawer before finding the twenty dollar bill, then shoved the bill inside his shoe. He'd have to get past his father before he could leave, but it was early enough in the day that he would have just enough time for his plan.

When his dad asked where he was going, he fibbed and simply replied, "Outside to play!"

* * *

Butters felt awful lying to his parents like that, but he knew he couldn't hold out any longer. He needed candy, and he needed it now. In a rush of pure adrenaline, he ran down the street and didn't, no, _wouldn't _stop until he reached the convienence store in town; never having felt so happy before than when he finally reached it.

Looking through the window, he could see the clear glass case full of candy bars and chocolate. The sight alone made Butters downright hungry. He went inside and walked up to the cashier, greeting him with a quiet "Hello."

The cashier hummed a song, looking straight ahead and not noticing - or hearing - the small customer standing in front of him. Butters eyeballed the candy display before speaking up again. "I-I'll take five musketeer bars, two bags of skittles, three starbursts, and four peppermint patties."

The cashier jumped, looking around to find the source of the voice, but nobody seemed to be around. The store was totally empty. "Who was that?" he called out.

"Down here, sir." Butters said. The cashier looked down over the glass counter and saw the small boy, then sighed. "Oh. Heh. Sorry, but we can't sell candy to minors. You'll need an adult with you to buy that."

Butters eyes' widened. "What? Since when?"

"Since the mayor passed a new law to protect young kids from eating too much candy before their dinners." the cashier said, matter-of-factly.

Butters' heart dropped for a moment before he quickly thought of a genius plan. "Please sir, it's f-for my uh, Grandma. I wanted to get some some candy for her, because she's real sick and isn't feeling well."

The man rolled his eyes. "And I haven't heard _that_ story a million times. Look kid, I'm not going to break the law just for some juvenile junkie to get their sugar thrills. Either you have an adult with you, or you can't have candy."

"Oh..." Butters sulked. "Alright, then.." He sighed and turned to walk away, leaving the store with tears brimming the edge of his eyes. Today had been a terrible day; first a pimple, and now this. Being a nine year old was so extremely complicated.

But whenever he had sugar, Butters felt all of those problems fade away. He no longer thought about Sally, or when his parents were going to ground him next, or even how long it would be until recess. It was just pure happiness. He would do _anything_ to feel that feeling once again.

That's when he remembered Cartman. If he was the one who sold him candy in the first place, maybe he'd be able to get more from him. He knew that Eric's mom always bought whatever junk foods Cartman asked for, so perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to coax some M&M's out of him.

Feeling hopeful and excited, Butters tucked his hands into his jacket and headed for their house.

* * *

Cartman opened the door. He was about to dismiss Stan and Kyle or those other assholes and tell them to leave him alone about stealing their bikes, but instead he saw Butters. His little friend stood in front of the doorway, nervous and jittery, wringing his hands together. '_Perfect'_, Cartman thought.

"Well hello there Butters!" he greeted in a fake and cheerful voice. Butters snapped out of his trance and smiled. "H-hey there, Eric! Look, I-"

Cartman cut him off before he could continue. "Don't worry about explaining - I know exactly why you're here."

Butters raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yes - and if you'll just follow me to my room, I'll be able to help you." he said, signalling for him to follow. Butters stepped inside. He saw Clyde coming down the stairs with a plastic bag. Clyde looked extremely happy, just like a kid on Christmas.

"Oh, hi Clyde." Butters greeted. Clyde snapped out of his happy trance after noticing Butters, then in a frantic tried to hide the bag under his shirt. Cartman put his hand up to stop him - "Clyde, it's okay, Butters isn't going to rat on anyone. _Right,_ Butters?"

"Rat about wha-" Cartman punched Butters in the arm, and Butters corrected his response. "Uh, y-yeah..I won't rat."

Clyde sighed, looking suddenly relieved. "Oh thank God, I've been waiting to eat these all day." he took the bag from his sweater and pulled out a twinkie, then stuffed it into his mouth like a hungry wolf. _'Ooh, it looks delicious'_, Butters thought. He watched as Clyde walked away, munching on the twinkie. "Thanks again, Cartman" the chubby boy said before leaving the house.

Butters twisted his lip nervously. "So..y-you're selling junk foods to other kids?" he asked.

Cartman shrugged. "I'm just helping a few people out in a time of need." he replied.

"But isn't that..illegal? You could get in a lot of trouble doing that."

"Don't worry pal, it's not like I'm making much of a profit off of this." Cartman lied. "Now, what kind of stuff were you interested in? I'm guessing just something to take the edge off? Maybe something a little harder than last time?"

Butters shrugged, feeling criminally corrupt. "I guess so."

Cartman smiled at him evilly. "Follow me."


	3. On The Trail

_To those who read, reviewed or favorited this story: Thank you! And I'm sorry for not updating in so long, I've sort of been sidetracked by other things. Not only that, but I have no idea where this story is supposed to be going. I should really plan that out first._

* * *

Butters followed Cartman up to his room, where he went to his closet to pull out a box. "Alright. I've been saving this stuff up for awhile now." he said before hurrying to shut the window blinds. He then opened the box slowly, as though it were a sacred treasure chest.

Butters' eyes lit up in delight as he laid them on all the junk food. There were cupcakes, cookies, skittles, starburst, gummies, and just about anything else a kid could possibly want. It was the kind of poison that could give you horribly painful tooth cavities, but make you smile at the same time. "Wow" he said, "Where do you get this stuff?"

"My mom." Cartman replied simply.

"Umm - do you have any M&M's?" Butters asked. Cartman nodded, going back to his closet to open yet another box - and pulled out a small case full of M&M candies.

The sight of the candy wrappers alone made him excited. "I'll take them all!" Butters blurted out. Cartman rubbed his chin, contemplating to himself. "Hm. I suppose I'll have to secure my oversea shipment on these. Well, alright Butters, you have yourself a deal."

Butters jumped in excitement. "Yay!"

"That'll just be thirty dollars." Cartman stated simply, a smug smile across his face. Butters' excitement quickly faded as he shrugged his shoulders, knowing he only had twenty dollars with him. "B-but I only have a twenty."

"Well then, I suppose you'll have to settle for less." the dealer explained.

Butters shook his head violently. "No! I-I can pay you back, I promise!" he reasoned. He nearly got to his knees begging, desperate for the whole lot of M&M's. "I need them all, I really do!"

Cartman gave him a skeptical look. He knew better than to trust a candy addict's promise, but the look in this young man's eyes was of desperation. "Fine, Butters. But I'll let you know that I have _people _working for me now. And if you don't pay me back this week, I _will_ send them on you. And trust me, you don't want that to happen." Cartman waved a finger in front of his throat as if pretending to slit it as he spoke.

Butters gulped. He knew that he needed this candy, even if his own life was at stake for it. He'd just have to get the ten dollars elsewhere, somehow. Simple, right? Ten dollars was nothing. "D-don't worry, y-you won't have to do that." he assured.

Cartman grinned and handed him all the bags of candy, as Butters reached under his shoe and pulled the twenty dollar bill out, handing it over. He stuffed the lot of M&M's under his shirt and coat. This, at least, might help get him through the week.

* * *

He came back home with his big jacket covering up the hidden stash beneath. There were even more bags of M&M's in his pockets as casually walked inside. He feared that his father would ask why he had his hands stuffed in his pockets like that, but was relieved to find the man sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper. He didn't even look up to glance at his son.

Butters ran up the stairs and flew into his room, shutting the door tightly behind him. After taking his coat off, he dumped the packets of M&M's all over the bed. There were at least ten packets of them, and they were all a pretty good size too. Not the miniature types, but the larger bags. Before ripping one open though, he made sure to hide them in the box underneath his own bed. He didn't want mom or dad walking in on him while he popped chocolate pills.

In a frenzied mania, he clutched the bag he'd been savoring all day and scooted himself into his closet. He pushed himself far back into it so nobody would find him in there, and then tore open the bag. The aroma of candy wax and chocolate wifted up into his nostrils, almost making him want to snort it. But he knew that they were made for swallowing, not snorting or sniffing. Besides, he'd never sniffed anything before. He didn't want to end up like_ those_ kids - the sniffers and snorters were always the worst.

After nearly downing half of the bag, he could already feel the rush of sugar penetrating his brain, giving him that happy buzz once again. It was no wonder candy was so hard to come by; all the good things in life never came easy.

Butters froze when the sound of his bedroom door opening snapped him out of his chocolate high. He peeked outside of the closet to catch his mother entering the room with a pile of bed sheets. He quickly ducked back inside the closet, not wanting to be seen. He remained still for a few moments, not daring to move a muscle. His mother dropped the pile down on his bed, then froze and turned around. "_Oh, hamburgers_" he thought. She was looking right in his direction.

She came towards the closet and paused, her legs just inches away from Butters face. He held his breath steadily and prayed she wouldn't catch sight of him sitting there. Linda stood there in front of the closet for a moment, sorting through something above him before she finally pulled a hanger out from it. "Now how did my sweater got in here?" she mumbed to herself.

She started turned away again, then paused and sniffed the air. "What's that smell?" she wondered aloud.

"What smell?" his father's voice responded. He appeared, standing there cautiously in the doorway, as though he'd just came out of nowhere. Butters froze in terror.

His mother looked over at his dad, "Oh, nothing. I just thought I smelled chocolate."

"You seen Butters around? I thought I saw him come up here." his father asked.

"I haven't seen him since he came home from school." she replied simply, walking out of the room. Mr. Stotch raised an eyebrow as Linda turned around again, "I'll bet he went hiding somewhere - such a strange boy."

Butters let out a ragged breath. He'd tried his best to hold it in, but it still came out. Having a mouthful of melting M&M candies certainly wasn't helping. Right at that moment, he could've sworn he saw his father lock eyes with him. There was a mysterious and knowing glint to them that seemed to pierce right through his soul, making Butters tremble. Mr. Stotch turned around, sucking on his cigar as he shut the door and left.

Butters stayed still for a whole minute, even after he'd heard his parents retreat downstairs. His sugar high had been completely replaced by guilt and fear, that knowing glance his father had shot at him. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, pehaps a coincidence, or if his father really _did_ see him hiding in the closet. Maybe he wasn't so well hidden after all. He couldn't help but wonder if his father had been watching all along. What if he'd seen the whole thing, what if he saw him dumping the stash onto his bed and then hiding it in a box?

One thing was for certain, he'd have to be more cautious about this habit from now on. His room could no longer be a safe place to support this new.._habit_.


End file.
